The Orioles announced that they’ve acquired catcher Andrew Susac from the Brewers in exchange for a player to be named later or cash. Susac was designated for assignment in Milwaukee earlier this week.
The 27-year-old Susac ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects on multiple lists prior to the 2015 campaign and was a frequent presence near the top of the Giants’ organizational prospect rankings as well. The Brewers acquired him in a 2016 swap that sent lefty Will Smith to San Francisco, though, and he’s struggled in both organizations over the past couple of seasons.
In 274 MLB plate appearances, Susac has batted just .232/.299/.396 with an alarming 82 strikeouts against 23 walks. He’s been more effective in his Triple-A career, hitting at a .247/.338/.425 clip, and strikeouts haven’t been nearly as much of an issue for him there. Durability, on the other hand, has been a major factor for the former second-rounder (Giants, 2011); Susac has appeared in more than 100 games just twice in a season, and he’s totaled just 142 games over the past two seasons combined. In his young career, Susac has already dealt with wrist, trapezius, finger and shoulder injuries on separate occasions.
The O’s have been looking to supplement their catching corps and now have four catchers on the 40-man roster in Susac, Chance Sisco, Caleb Joseph and Austin Wynns. Joseph heads into Spring Training with a roster spot all but secured, and while many have presumed Sisco to be the favorite to join him, reports out of Baltimore have suggested that there will be a competition in that regard. Susac will join Sisco and Wynns in vying for playing time, but he has a minor league option remaining, so he can be sent to Triple-A Norfolk without needing to be exposed to waivers if he doesn’t secure a spot.
HOT STOVE ACTION
Did I sleep through February and March? It must be April fools! Dumpster Dan Duquette thrift shop trading
One of the smarter and more creative GM’s out there. This is hardly an earth shattering acquisition of course, but I’m interested in seeing Sisco and Wynns battle for the backup job. As they both are uncertainties (little to no MLB experience) it makes sense for the O’s to get a low-cost backup in the event that both prospects falter in the spring. (He also has an option so that is helpful in the event that Sisco/Wynns falters later.) I don’t know the defensive reputation of the new acquisition, so I’d be curious to know how the O’s view him in that regard.
Yeah ok. You’re not an Orioles fan are you?
How’s he one of the smarter gm’s? He has a roster full of holes every year and never fixes their obvious needs
Lmao Duquette doesn’t even know what way he hits. He’s one of the worst gm’s in the league
Low end organization doing low end things.
Brewers bandwagon getting excited…lol!
Probably talking about the O’s but I like your enthusiasm.
You know it!
Good depth piece for O’s. Susac fought through a lot of injuries last season starting in the middle of spring training but he possesses the ability to be a decent MLB player. Just needs to stay healthy and that’s been his main problem
Darn wish they would’ve thrown in Broxton and Thames in that deal lol
I agree. Cheap and has more upside for the price.
Weird that they acquired him. He’s probably third on their depth chart right now. Maybe they don’t think Sisco is ready yet?
Spring training depth and a flier on a former decent prospect. Why not?
The organizational feeling is that Sisco‘s bat is ready for the bigs, but his defense (which he has taken strides to improve greatly) still needs a lot of work.
His bat is ready for the bigs……..?
Sisco, not Susac
The catching staff is almost as big as the pitching staff with less than 2 weeks before Ps and Cs report. I’m excited to see exactly how those pitching staff holes fill themselves over the next week and a half.
The stove has been cold for too long a blockbuster like this has been needed to trigger the rest of FA
but what about Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb
They both enjoy fish tacos.
Then they should both sign with the Padres. Delicious fish tacos in SD, and the other tacos there ain’t half bad either.
….chicken?
Watch him be the next scrub of doom that kills my team. Until last season Caleb Joseph murdered our staff but we finally figured him out in 2017
So what does this guy offer? He doesn’t hit and he does strike out a lot and he does get injured a lot so what does he offer?
Nothing? But catching is all about defense.
This article said not one word about his D.
Sure seems like a useless acquisition.
Why is this a priority? This hack could’ve been had anytime. Go do something that will improve the team. Good grief
he was being designated, which meant there was a time limit to acquire him.
The usual return for this type of trade is the fee for the waiver claim. So, $20K to Milwaukee.
Enter Cubs fans who didn’t attend a single game at Wrigley from 2010-2014 but are now back on the bandwagon and call themselves lifelong supporters.
I hear you loud and clear. Take a look at their attendance figures going back fifty years and you’ll see how pathetic the numbers are. They talk how Cubbie nation is so loyal but they’ve never really been there…
I did take a look – you’re absolutely correct.
1960 – 7th of 8 in NL
1961 – 7th of 8 in NL
1962 – 10th of 10 in NL
1963 – 5th of 10 in NL
1964 – 9th of 10 in NL
1965 – 9th of 10 in NL
1966 – 10th of 10 in NL
1967 – 8th of 10 in NL
Things didn’t pick up until 1984 when the Cubs became a thing after they blew it against the Padres and the so-called “curse” was back. .
Are those ranks total attendance or percentage of ball park.
Why are you going back fifty years? What does that have to do with today’s fans?
That’s probably because the average age of an MLB fan is 53..ESPN. You also see these specials about these old loyal fans of the Cubs and hear how they’ve suffered remaining loyal going to games regardless. Think the bottom line they’re both going for is Wrigley isn’t the loyal fanbase Mecca it’s been made out to be throughout all seasons.
I have to disagree with you a bit.. Back when I was a teenager in the late 80’s and early 90’s cable tv only had about 30 channels.. One of those channels was WGN which was owned by the Tribune, who also owned the Cubs.. They televised just about every Cubs game.. The only other team that was nationally televised similarly was the Braves who were owned by Ted Turner and had their games shown on TBS..
So, although I did not live in their market or attend my first game at Wrigley until 2004 I grew up a Cubs fan.. They had Harry Caray, Steve Stone, and Thom Brennaman (sp?) calling most games.. A perennial all-star (and HOF) Sandberg at 2nd who led the league in HR’s 1 year. I did get to see him hit 2 of those in Busch Stadium that year when I went with my dad on a business trip.. They had future HOF’s in Maddux and Dawson, a closer in Mitch WIlliams who was nicknamed wild thing before Rick Vaughn (for good reason).. They had other fun players to watch like Shawon Dunston, Mark Grace, Jerome Walton (ROY in 1989 and a crazy batting stance) and Joe Girardi was an up and coming catcher. They also had a 1st round pick in 1990 that absolutely tore up the minors in Lance Dickson.. After being drafted in June he went through every level of the minors and began starting games for the Cubs in August.. He got lit up though, had off season arm surgery and was never the same again..
I wrote all of that useless babble to prove that you can be a lifelong fan of a team while only having attended a handful of games in your lifetime.. I grew up in New York and will always be a Yankee fan.. I also grew up watching Cubs games on WGN and the Cubs will always be my NL team.. Even if the evil genius Epstein is their President of Baseball Operations..
I am not one of your figures it seems, 2010 to 2014 was awesome. I could goto Wrigley for $5-$7 a ticket to any home game. Now it’s like I have to know a guy or get tickets through work functions. Bandwagoners ruined it for the few faithful. Was attending 25 plus games a year, now I am lucky to attend a handful without giving up my first born.
On another note, I think Milwaukee fans are becoming more triggered and quick to jump on the Cubs more than the South Siders here. It was only about a few years ago I heard the White Sox fans still saying they were world champs at the ballpark during the cross town. (Even though its been since 2005) Everyone needs to cooldown, this season is going to be a hard fought battle for the central, lets just enjoy baseball.
It looks like the comment I piggybacked off originally is now gone. It was a Cubbies fan calling out Brewers fans.
Susac is just a replacement for Francisco Peña…organizational depth and such.
The O’s aren’t rebuilding, they aren’t selling, they aren’t buying, they aren’t signing free agents, and they’re aren’t addressing any needs on the major league roster. What’s the plan? Do they even have a plan?
I the only who who thought it would say Cashner after seeing his first name was Andrew lol ♂️♂️
Good to see Susac back in orange and black. Hope it works out for him in Baltimore.
I don’t know if I would call a 29% K rate in a rookie catcher who has only played in 104 MLB games “alarming”. Kris Bryant had 199 k’s in 2015. Which figures out to a k rate of 30.6%. I am not comparing the 2 at all (except for their rookie K Rate) but I don’t recall anyone calling Bryant’s K rate “alarming” back then.
If Susac can ever get healthy and finish his development, I believe he will be a fine MLB catcher. Whenever he has managed to play around 100 games in a minor league season he has maintained a walk rate round 13% (very nice) and a k rate around 22% He has the makings of a good starting catcher, or at least a very solid back-up, if he can ever manage to stay healthy. That is a big if, though.